John C. Wash

John Wash's visual creativity has always been a force in shaping his career. Wash's passion for the magic of cinema began at the age of eight, when he opened a Christmas package that held a battery-powered movie projector. The single eight millimeter film that accompanied the projector was quickly worn to shreds by the young projectionist. While still in high school, Wash worked as cinematographer on two independent films.

His passion for movie making brought him to the University of Southern California's School of Cinema/Television. Here Wash excelled at creating cel and back-lit effects animation on film. Wash's animation work was screened at the inaugural Los Angeles Film Festival, and won awards in international competition. While still at USC, John created animated graphics and visual effects for John Carpenter and Dan O'Bannon's cult classic, Dark Star.

After graduating, Wash was approached by a fellow USC graduate, George Lucas, to design and produce graphic animation for a science fiction project he was working on. During the production of Star Wars, John utilized computer generated imagery for the first time, using the Scanimate analog computer to produce an animated display of the Death Star. In 1979, John established his company, Motion Graphics, which designed and produced graphic animation for The Thing, Escape From New York, Cloak & Dagger, Halloween III and numerous TV commercials.

In 1981, while working at Entertainment Effects Group (EEG), Wash supervised animation and computer graphics on Ridley Scott's Sci-Fi classic, Bladerunner. His stint at EEG included visual effects supervision on the Clio winning spot for Chanel, "Share the Fantasy", directed by Ridley Scott. In 1983, after finishing visual effects work on Brainstorm, Wash, along with EEG co-workers Richard Hollander, Greg McMurry and Rhonda Gunner formed a new company, Video Image Associates, specializing in computer animation and 24-frame video displays. Their first project was Peter Hyams's 2010. Wash oversaw design and production of screen graphics for such features as Timecop, Clear & Present Danger, Crimson Tide, and the roll-out commercial for AT&T's Truevoice service.

Wash and his partners foresaw the use of computer generated imagery as the future of visual effects production. As a result, they developed the hardware and expanded their services to include a state-of-the-art CGI department, that became known as VIFX.

From 1997 through 1999, John has worked as Managing Director and Senior Visual Effects Supervisor at Blue Sky|VIFX. He has supervised visual effects work on films including The X-Files Movie, Volcano, One Fine Day, Dusk 'Till Dawn, Switchback, Patriot Games, Free Willy, Demolition Man and Clear & Present Danger. With the acquisition of VIFX by Rhythm & Hues in 1999, John has returned to independent work as a freelance visual effects supervisor, combining feature work and supervision on the last two seasons of The X-Files television series.

As part of the development of the visual effects industry, Wash has been active in education and the development of new talent. He has conducted presentations and seminars for organizations that include Siggraph, Imagina, AFI, and USC's Film and Television Department. Wash is also a member of the Visual Effects Society and the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.